Bitcoin ATM scams: what to do if you were told to pay at a crypto kiosk

Because the money arrives instantly and can't be pulled back. The FTC explains that scammers text you a QR code to scan at the machine, and the cash you deposit goes straight into the scammer's wallet. FinCEN contrasts this with a bank wire, which can stay pending for one to two days before it settles, giving time to stop it.

FinCEN also notes that kiosks charge fees of 7 to 20 percent, on top of what the victim loses.

The FTC says reported Bitcoin ATM losses are overwhelmingly about government impersonation, business impersonation and tech-support scams. FinCEN adds romance and “person in need” emergency scams. The script is usually the same:

• —A call, pop-up or message says your bank account, computer or identity has been compromised, or that you owe a fine.
• —You're told to withdraw cash from your bank, find a kiosk, and deposit it there, sometimes across several machines.
• —The scammer stays on the phone or online with you the whole time, and may call the machine a “safety locker” for your money.
• —Afterwards they come back for more, or switch to sending a courier to collect cash or gold.

• —Stop all contact with the caller. Don't make another deposit, however urgent they make it sound.
• —Keep the kiosk receipt and take photos of it.
• —Report it to your local police and to the FBI's IC3. The FBI asks for the transaction ID (TXID), the wallet address the funds were sent to, and the location of the kiosk.
• —Report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov, and to the company that operates the kiosk.
• —If the kiosk operator warns you during a transaction that it may be fraud, the FBI's advice is to stop or cancel it.

Usually not by reversing it: the FTC notes that cryptocurrency payments typically are not reversible, and FinCEN says the speed of kiosk transfers makes law enforcement's recovery of the funds difficult.

But the payment isn't invisible. The receipt's transaction ID and wallet address let the funds be followed on the blockchain to wherever they went next, which is what police need if the money reaches an exchange that can freeze it. Beware of anyone who contacts you offering to recover the money; that's a recovery scam.

The FBI's IC3 received more than 13,400 complaints about cryptocurrency kiosks in 2025, with losses over $388 million: 23% more complaints and 58% higher losses than in 2024. More than half of the complaints involved people over 50, with losses over $302 million.

Older adults are hit hardest. The FTC found that more than two of every three dollars reported lost to fraud using these machines was lost by an older adult, and that the median reported loss in the first half of 2024 was $10,000. It adds that reported figures likely reflect only a fraction of the actual harm.

We trace kiosk payments from the receipt's transaction ID through every address the funds passed through, and document it in a report police or a lawyer can act on. The intake review is free, and if a trace is unlikely to help, we'll say so before you pay.